Lisboa - Portugal's most dynamic wine region?

Reporting on discoveries and trends from Simplesmente Vinho 2024

Twelve years ago it took place in a cramped, mouldy set of arches on the Largo do Terreiro, with mice running around the floor and 16 winemakers crammed in a space where you could barely stand up straight. Now, Portugal’s most dynamic wine fair Simplesmente Vinho occupies the spacious Alfândega (Porto’s historic customs house). The venue might be less gritty and underground these days, but the artisan wine scene has expanded exponentially in the last decade. It’s become an annual pilgrimage, with one burning question uppermost in my mind: who is this year’s most exciting new discovery?

This year, Simplesmente invited 12 Georgian winemakers to participate, drawing an astute parallel between their 8,000 year old tradition of making wine in the large clay pots called qvevri, and the 2,000 year old Alentejo tradition of making wine in the large clay pots called talha. Many winemakers and visitors to the fair had their first chance to try authentic Georgian qvevri wines. With icons such as Ramaz Nikoladze, John Okro and Zurab Topuridze, plus new wave talent including Baia’s wine, Lapati, Ori Marani, Bua and Chona’s Marani, they were well served.

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Notwithstanding my love of Georgia, Portuguese producers are my focus at Simplesmente, and this year reinforced a trend that I first noticed two years ago. The Lisboa region is the country’s most dynamic hotbed for new winemaking talent and nascent natural wine projects.

For those less familiar with Portugal, this might come as a surprise. Many wine lovers know Lisboa as a capital city, not a wine region. But it is very much both, even if the wine is a lot less famous than its northerly cousins Vinho Verde, Douro, Dão and Bairrada. There are good reasons why so many of the country’s most up-and-coming growers are sprinkled around the long thin spit of land that runs from just south of Coimbra all the way down to the capital itself.

Vineyard land and old vine parcels are relatively easy to come by in Lisboa, because it has historically lacked prestige or renown. The proximity to the city itself is important, because Lisboa is Portugal’s most important centre for gastronomy and for natural or artisanal wine. Porto is slowly awakening from its slumbers, but Lisboa’s restaurants and wine bars probably outnumber Porto’s by a factor of 10. The climate retains an Atlantic freshness, without the extremes of Douro’s fiery furnace, Vinho Verde’s dampness or Bairrada’s humidity. In short, it’s a great place to grow places, and a reasonably forgiving climate to practice organic viticulture. And it currently hums with non-traditional winemaking activity.

The best of Lisboa

If there was one grower that took my breath away, it was Las Vedras, the newish project of Pedro Marques and Sónia Raposo. Pedro is well known as the winemaker for his family’s Vale de Capucha estate in Torres Vedras, a role which he continues. But the couple’s dream was to create their own estate, and from 2019 they started making it a reality. They now rent four different plots around the Torres Vedras sub-region, comprising 2 hectares in total. In addition, they buy grapes from a tiny half hectare plot with poignant history. Their Limo Las Vedras wines are sourced from vines planted by the late António Carvalho (Casal Figueira) before his untimely death in 2009.

Carvalho had a fascination with French grape varieties, and his plot has a pretty incongruous mix of Rousanne, Marsanne, Petit Manseng and Viognier, along with natives Fernão Pires, Vital and Arinto. I think he would have been delighted with Pedro’s expression of his vineyard. Limo Las Vedras 2021 is a stunner, fizzing with life and finishing with delicate saltiness. It’s been very deftly barrel aged, adding a little volume and body, and a Burgundian struck match nose. It’s almost impossible to pick apart a blend like this, but those French varieties do seem to add some richness and a whack of ripe pear fruit. At least that’s what I like to think.

Dois Portos 2022 was my favourite from a bunch of red blends, sourced from a 35 year old plot grown on basalt soils. The fruit felt juicy and vibrant, with kirsch and cherry notes and more of that lipsmacking Lisboa saltiness. It is absolutely ready to drink now, whereas some of the couple’s 2019s and 2021s need a little more time – and hence they have a staged, late-release programme.

Much as I’m a longtime fan of the Vale de Capucha wines, I have the feeling that Pedro and Sonia found freedom to express themselves more fully with Las Vedras. This is one of the region’s most exciting projects.

A little further north in the Óbidos sub-region, a Portuguese-American couple, Marta and Scott, purchased 11 hectares of land in 2022. They immediately applied to put it into organic conversion, something that garners my respect. Their label is Desviso, which Scott explains as a made-up word representing his hapless attempts to pronounce the Portuguese for “diversion”.

Scott trained as a winemaker in Walla-Walla, Washington. The pair have so far planted Touriga Nacional and Baga on 2 hectares (I did ask why not something with a little more history in the region), but with a one year old vineyard, their 2022s and 2023s were made with bought-in fruit.

The wines, all single varietals, are well-made but did not scale the heights. The varieties are a hotch-potch of cultivars: Encruzado, Gouveio, Arinto, Fernão Pires, Syrah, Castelão and Tinta Roriz. My picks are the sharply acidic but attractively limey Arinto 2022, a stemmy yet silky Syrah (O Coiso de Syrah 2022) and the funky almost Cabernet Franc-like Castelão 2022. I am hopeful that the couple will experiment with some blends, to create more complexity and expession, and also that they will plant some varieties that have a little more relevance to the region. I love their ethic and the label concept. Lots of potential here.

Genúria Wines is another nascent project established in 2022. João and Mariana Jacinto acquired one hectare of Marselan, which they plan to mostly regraft to local varieties including Castelão. They don’t have much in bottle and on the market yet, and I wasn’t particularly a fan of their two 2022s. But a Tinto 2023, 75% Marselan plus 25% Castelão, tastes very promising, with spiced raspberry fruit and elegant tannins.

Organic certification is in the works, and there are plenty of interesting wines in tank and barrel. Their Curtimenta (orange wine) 2023 is nowhere near ready, but it promises to be lots of fun once it’s bottled. Stay tuned!

Heading further out to the Atlantic coast, Quinta de San Michel is a young estate based in Sintra. Currently farming two hectares on clay soils, Alexandre Guedes has produced a scintillating traditional method sparkler from Malvasia de Colares. I loved its turbo-charged saline character, and the two grams dosage is perfectly judged to balance its sharp acidity. I wasn’t a fan of the white wines, all barrel aged and showing a little too much wood influence for my taste. But what does excite me greatly is that they’ve planted five hectares of Malvasia actually in the Colares DOC region.

Colares is an appellation that has been balanced on a knife-edge for decades, almost lost to property development by the early 21^st century. It seems to have finally pulled back from the brink, with new plantings from independent growers such as Quinta de San Michel. I can’t wait to see how the wine tastes.

Staying in Colares, this was the first year I tasted a DOC Colares Malvasia from Daniel Afonso (Baías e Enseadas). From the atypically ripe 2022 vintage, it is full bodied and fleshy. Adega Viúva Gomes, currently the region’s longest established and most innovative independent producer, now has a Colares Reserva in addition to their regular bottling. The reserva is sourced entirely from their own vines, and the 2021 is stunning, conjuring up a vivid picture of this windswept, salty region sticking out into the Atlantic. It’s tight, salty and rather thrilling. There has also been a rethink of the Pirata sub-brand, with everything now labelled Viúva Gomes and a new wine ‘Viticultores’. This is actually what used to be the red grapes that went into ‘Tutti-frutti’. The 2022 is superbly juicy, with expressive red berry fruit and a subtle piquant character.

Tasting with Ana Cardoso Pinto, the first thing I noticed was those eye-catchingly minimalist labels. Yep, she’s an architect and there is a meticulous design ethic going on here.

Ana’s family runs the well known Quinta do Pinto winery. Her Purista label is a completely separate project, using vineyards she planted in 2019. She does however vinify in her parent’s cellar, as she coveted their 19th century concrete tanks.

I am not really sure why she decided to focus on grape varieties that you’d expect to see further north, but her Encruzado 2023 tastes mighty fine (just a tank sample at present). A Tinta Muida 2022 (in bottle) also impressed me. I’d like to taste more of Ana’s bottled wines in the future - she definitely piqued my interest.

Not to neglect a couple of more established Lisboa-region projects, Hugo Mendes’ Castelão 2022 was absolutely delicious, with supple raspberry fruit. João Tereso (Chinado) impressed me yet again with a beautiful Palhete 2022 (sourced from his oldest plot ‘Esmeralda’) and a sappy, fruit-packed Tinto 2022. This man can do no wrong.

I’ve done little more than scratch the surface of what was three days packed with exciting wines here. Of course, I tasted lots that was great from all over Portugal. For my paid subscribers only (you can become one for just €7), here is a little run-down of the best of Simplemente Vinho 2024 (excluding Lisboa).

As always, I’d love to hear your comments. What are your favourite Portuguese or even Lisboa wines?

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